In article <[log in to unmask]>, Tony Brewis
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Re the current enquiry regarding the sources of hearthstone.
>I too remember it being widely used for front doorsteps and
>window sills in south-east Lancashire. It was supplied by the
>rag-and-bone man, who had handy-sized blocks of it on his
>horse-drawn cart. In return for a suitable quantity of old
>clothes, you got a piece of holystone.
We also had it in South Yorkshire in the late 50's - until you mentioned
getting it from the rag and bone man, I had completely forgotten that
was where it came from, but yes that was the source I remember too. The
term for applying it was "scouring the steps" - even the outside toilet
(the only one we had until I was 8) was given the treatment on a weekly
basis - any able bodied woman who didn't scour the steps weekly was
looked own on as a sloppy housewife!!
--
John Ambler
[log in to unmask]
http://www.hawkhurst.demon.co.uk
Somewhere in the middle of a forest in Sussex (UK) ........
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